www.careersatpeds.org/events
To apply now, please email your resume to resumes@setonpediatric.org.
We are an equal opportunity employer.

For the past twenty years, Manhattan has been home to the
Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center, a specialty nursing facility
devoted to changing the lives of medically fragile children. The
Center will be moving to a magnificent “green” building designed
specifically for children and staff with nearly double the space.

Specialty features will include: therapy on each of the 3
residential floors, a hydro-therapy pool, sensory rooms, art and
music therapy suites, 5 terraces including a therapy terrace, 15
classrooms, a gym and outdoor play areas. The design creates
smaller, intimate neighborhoods of care to speak to the feelings
of “home.”

Hey parents,
you must chill
Right after 9/11, the
NYPD’s approval rating
was at a record high
But a series of public
missteps has chipped
away at New Yorkers’
faith in our police force

The Big Issue

TO SERVE
AND PROTECT?

If you’re too
anxious about
your children it
could really
screw them up
{page 18}

{pages 08-09}

NOW OPEN!
+ Upper

East Side

336E 86th St
212-772-3627

+ Upper

West Side

2465 Broadway
212-721-2111

NOW OPEN!
+ Columbus

Circle

315W 57th St
212-315-2330

WIN A FREE
M

3 MONTH PREMIU
IFY!!!
MEMBERSHIP FOR SPOT
Log on to

york/clubmetro
www.metro.us/n!ew
for your chance to win

to win great prizes
o and stay in the loop ve special oﬀers!
Sign up for Club Metr
and recei

COMING SOON!
+ Flatiron

District

37W 23rd St

www.CityMD.net

02

1

new york

NYC’s #1 FREE DAILY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012

MTA beefs up security
243 new police recruits added underground as the MTA and NYPD try to stem rising tide
of crime in the subways Major crime is up, but arrests down in 2011, new data shows
EMILY ANNE EPSTEIN/METRO

Subway crime
increase
350 more major felonies,
such as rape, murder and
grand larceny, were committed in the subway system in
2011 than in 2010, a 16 percent increase, according to
the MTA.
In 2011 an average of nearly
seven major felonies were
committed every day, up
from an average of 6 major
felonies committed daily in
2010 and 5.6 per day in 2009.
In 2009, 35 percent of subway crime was the theft of
electronics, and in 2011, that
number grew to 49 percent,
according to NYPD Transit
Chief Joseph Fox.
In 2011, the majority of
crimes were committed in
Brooklyn (37 percent) and
Manhattan (35 percent), with
the Bronx (16 percent) and
Queens (12 percent) making
up just one-third of crime.

In the news

3 World Trade
may be cut by
73 stories
The developer of 3 World
Trade Center, Larry Silverstein, may cap the underconstruction office tower
to less than a tenth of its
original size, according
to Crain’s New York. The
move stems from a 2010
agreement between Silverstein and the Port Authority that Silverstein
had to have the first 10 of
its planned 80 floors preleased, or risk simply
building a seven-story
tower. Silverstein may
still go ahead with the
taller skyscraper if he can
find a major tenant by
the end of this year.

Major felony crimes in the subway are up 16 percent compared to 2010, and the NYPD has added
243 more police to its Transit Bureau in response.

The NYPD and the MTA are
combating skyrocketing subway crime with a surge of new
recruits.
NYPD Transit Chief Joseph
Fox announced yesterday that
243 rookie cops from the Police
Academy’s January graduating
class have been assigned to the
Transit Bureau. Those recruits
bring the total number of dedicated subway cops to 2,496, he
said.
But don’t be too impressed:
Fox said the addition only
brings the total number of tran-

sit cops back to 2010 staffing
levels.
“Subways are very busy
places. They’ll be put to good
use,” said Fox of the new hires.
The chief bragged that in
their first 13 days on the force,
each rookie has made at least
one arrest.
The new police are sorely
needed underground.
Although crime was up in
2011, MTA statistics released
yesterday reveal that the NYPD
hasn’t kept pace with increased
arrests.

In 2011, there were 1,392
less arrests on the trains than
in 2010. There were also 12,962
less summonses issued last year
than in 2010.
MTA board member Andrew

Albert said yesterday the growing crime of subway fare evasion is of particular concern.
“I’m seeing more fare evasion than I’ve seen in a long
time," he said.
Fare evasion was the one
area where the NYPD has made
more arrests, 427 more in 2011
than in 2010.
“We’re in the process of doing all we can,” said Fox.
EMILY ANNE EPSTEIN
emily.epstein@metro.us

Higher fines
A state senator has cleared
the way to jack up fines for
farebeating from $100 to
$500. The Senate passed Sen.
Charles Fuschillo’s legislation
yesterday. “The MTA and its
fare-paying riders shouldn’t
have to spend tens of millions of dollars more each
year paying for other people’s illegal free rides,”
Fuschillo said.

METRO/SV

Correction
According to a report
done by the New York
City Public Advocate,
about child deaths in
New York City, 75 children died over a multi-year period, not only in 2011 as reported
in yesterday’s paper.
Metro regrets the
error.

Welcoming in 2012, the
Year of the Dragon
NEW YORK. Yesterday marked
the first day of the Chinese
new year, the Year of the
Dragon. There were celebrations throughout Chinatown,
including the firecracker ceremony in Roosevelt Park.
There, firecrackers were set
off in hopes of warding away
evil spirits in the new year.
But the big Chinese new year
parade will be this Sunday,

GETTY IMAGES

of students
14inpercent
the city’s public
school system are
Asian-American.

Jan. 29. There is a growing demand to give New York City
public school students the
Chinese new year off as an official school holiday.
METRO/CB

A traditional dance troupe
performs in Chinatown.

MTA turns down offer of
free bus for 7-train riders
QUEENS. MTA officials have rejected a $250,000 offer made
by Queens Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer to fund a free
shuttle-bus service for
frustrated straphangers on
the 7 train. After Queens residents discovered they have 11
consecutive weekends of service outages, Van Bramer said
he offered to pay for a direct
bus from Long Island City to

The 7 train will not
run between Times
11
Square and Queensboro
Plaza for 11 weekends
now through March 31.
Grand Central. Van Bramer
said the MTA declined his offer, saying their three-transfer
bus plan would be a faster alternative. METRO/SV

CALL US TOLL FREE AT 1-855-301-2100
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING - PRIOR RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE A SIMILAR OUTCOME

04

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012

‘Unholy’ traffic mess
in SoHo, says Stringer
Calling SoHo streets an “unholy mess,” Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer
said yesterday that something
must be done to unclog traffic
in downtown Manhattan.
Stringer held a press conference yesterday afternoon at
Mercer and Broome streets to
discuss the gridlock, a problem he said dozens of New
Yorkers have called his office
to complain about.
“Horn honking has become
the lullaby of lower Broadway,” Stringer said. “Broome
Street has turned into a pedestrian nightmare filled with
impatient drivers.”
Cars driving west along
Broome clog the street while
trying to get into the Holland
Tunnel, he said. Traffic is often
stuck at a standstill; there is
too much honking and crosswalks are often so clogged
that pedestrians need to
weave through cars to cross
the street, Stringer added.

Quoted

“Broome Street has
turned into a
pedestrian
nightmare.” STRINGER
In a letter to Department of
Transportation Commissioner
Janette Sadik-Khan, he asked
the DOT to address the gridlock. He suggested more traffic
cameras, signage and crosswalk
repairs along Mercer Street.
Brad Hoylman, chair of
Community Board 2, which
includes SoHo, confirmed the
traffic headache.
“Congestion in SoHo has
long been a serious and vexing
problem for residents and
pedestrians in this historic
neighborhood,” he said.
Look familiar?

Potential challenger to NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand runs blog that linked
to posts about sex, women, drugs Gillibrand calls the site ‘anti-women’
A potential challenger to Sen.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) denied yesterday that he authored blog posts she blasted
as sexist.
Marc Cenedella, a businessman poised to campaign
for Gillibrand’s seat when she

Some light
reading?
The posts in question are no
longer available, but the
Times reported that these
were among them:
“Sexy vs. Skanky”
“Dating Advice for Girly
Girls”
“He Stole My Weed”
“High Quality Dope”
“A New Holiday for Men”
“Omarosa Jock Straps”

is up for re-election in November, runs a website where
blog posts once ran with
headlines such as “Sexy vs.
Skanky” and “High Quality
Dope,” The New York Times
reported Sunday.
The posts can no longer be
found on www.blog.theladders.com/rock, a blog associated with TheLadders.com. TheLadders.com is a job-search
site Cenedella, 41, founded in
2003. It has reportedly helped
make him a millionaire.
But The Times reported
Sunday that Cenedella’s photo was on the site with the title, “The personal blog of
Marc Cenedella.” Sprinkled
among articles about finessing résumés were posts about
sex and drugs, according to
the Times.
At an event yesterday on Internet security, Gillibrand said
the postings were “anti-women

“I think New Yorkers
of all people
understand the blog
world and how it
works. We don’t see
this as a signiﬁcant
issue. ... Kirsten
Gillibrand has once
again shown today
that she does not
understand the
Internet.”

and very disrespectful.”
Bill O’Reilly, Cenedella’s
spokesman, said the posts
were written between 2003
and 2008 by five or six different authors. Cenedella recalls
the posts, but not whether he
specifically
wrote
them,
O’Reilly added.
For example, one post
linked to an outside site,
which suggested March 14 be
a holiday when women offer
steak and oral sex to men.
Posts like these, O’Reilly said,
linked to text that was not
written by Cenedella or his
colleagues. But he said
Cenedella is still assuming responsibility for the blog. “It’s
impossible to determine
which author linked to it, but
as the publisher, he takes full
ownership of it,” he said.
ALISON BOWEN

Former front-runner Romney fights fire with fire, gets into the negative
attack game Hits Gingrich hard on character issues Gingrich hits back

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney yesterday
sharpened his attacks on rival
Newt Gingrich’s business past
and character ahead of a crucial debate in which Romney
needs a strong performance to
recharge his bid for the White
House.
Romney blasted Gingrich
yesterday as an erratic politician who has switched positions “almost like a pinball machine,” in a toughening of his
rhetoric to try to halt his chief
rival’s surprising momentum.
Seeking to regain his footing after losing Saturday’s
South Carolina primary badly
to Gingrich, Romney challenged the former speaker of
the House of Representatives
to return the $1.6 million in
consulting fees he made from
Freddie Mac and detail the
work he performed for the
troubled mortgage giant.

“I think as you look
at the speaker’s
record over time,
it’s been highly
erratic. He’s gone
from pillar to post
almost like a
pinball machine,
from item to item
in a way which is
highly erratic.” ROMNEY
It looked to be a tit-for-tat
“disclosure” tactic on Romney’s
part after Gingrich effectively
attacked him last week for not
releasing his tax returns. Romney, who is worth some $270
million, will disclose two years
of returns today.
New opinion polls show
that Gingrich has now jumped

If one of you is snoring,
you’re not really
sleeping together.

into the lead in Florida ahead
of the state’s pivotal Jan. 31 primary, the fourth contest in the
state-by-state battle for the Republican nomination to face
President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the Nov. 6 election.
A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Republican voters put Gingrich on
top of Romney by 9 percentage points and an Insider Advantage poll showed Gingrich
with a lead of 8 percentage
points.
Romney hit Gingrich hard
on character issues. He
warned Republicans that
there might be enough baggage in Gingrich’s past that
could hurt the party’s chances
of taking back the White
House from Obama. Romney’s
campaign also released a TV
ad to criticize Gingrich’s Freddie Mac ties and link them to
Florida. REUTERS

Gingrich
gets even
WASHINGTON. Just as Rom-

ney was on the defensive
over taxes last week, Gingrich had to explain his
Freddie Mac role.
In an interview on
ABC’s “Good Morning
America”, Gingrich said
Romney was not being
honest when he called
him a “lobbyist” for Freddie Mac. Gingrich also said
he would work to get his
consulting contract with
Freddie Mac released.
“I did no lobbying, period,” Gingrich said. “He
keeps using the word ‘lobbyist’ because I’m sure his
consultants tell him it
scores well.” REUTERS

This unused cover option for Bloomberg Businessweek made
the rounds online yesterday. Editor Josh Tyrangiel explained why
they didn’t go with it: “A lot of times these decisions are about all
of us putting our ﬁnger in the air and trying to ﬁgure out which
way the zeitgeist is blowing.” Someone needs a weatherman.

Itchy?
Research Volunteers Needed
With Severe Eczema
Rockefeller University is working to understand
the disease known as eczema
(also known as atopic dermatitis). They are investigating a
new medication that is not yet approved for eczema.

You may be eligible if you:
+DYHsevere eczema on your body
$UHLQJHQHUDOO\JRRGKHDOWK
+DYHÀH[LELOLW\LQ\RXUVFKHGXOHWRDWWHQGFOLQLFDSSRLQWPHQWV

No one has to sleep on the couch.
Call us to learn about our treatment
options or schedule an appointment.
888 485 0466
New York City · Long Island
EosSleep.com

3RWHQWLDO%HQH¿WV
5HFHLYHWKHUDS\KDYLQJWKHSRWHQWLDOWRFRQWUROHF]HPD
%HRQFXWWLQJHGJHRIHF]HPDUHVHDUFK
&DUHIURPHF]HPDH[SHUWV
There will be NO costs to study participants.

For more information or to see if you qualify,
please call us at 1-800-RUCARES
Or email us at RUCARES@Rockefeller.edu

news

NYCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s #1 FREE DAILY

Crossing
the aisle:
Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
mistake?

Metropolitik
BRAYDEN
SIMMS
POLITICAL REALISM FOR
THE URBAN PROLETARIAT

@METROPOLITIK

President Obama will likely work to repair the damage to
his brand in tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s State of the Union speech.

Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first three years of
rule as the Chicago newcomerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much-ballyhooed postpartisanship crashed headfirst
into the messy realities of
Washington gridlock.
In this analysis, reformer
Obama grossly underestimated
the nature of U.S. two-party politics, in which a win for one
party â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and perhaps the country at large â&#x20AC;&#x201D; may be perceived

by the opposition party as a big
loss (and therefore scuttled) regardless of its potential to improve the lot of regular Americans; and in which a hyperpartisan national media infrastructure can effectively motivate
negative public opinion in support of special interests.
In short, the system â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as
we all now, irrespective of party affiliation, seem hopelessly

aware â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is broken at the core.
When potentially beneficial
legislation is viewed in Washington through the prism of future electoral chances; when,
in other words, good ideas are
killed off solely owing to the
perception that they could aid
rival politicians come next November; when elected officials
weigh their own upcoming
contests more heavily then the
general welfare of the American people; what we get are
politicians looking to benefit
not â&#x20AC;&#x153;we the peopleâ&#x20AC;? but
â&#x20AC;&#x153;me the candidate.â&#x20AC;?
Obama, of course, did not
create this system, but he does
seem to have run aground of it.
And if he wants to win re-election, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have to work with it.
Metro does not endorse the opinions of the
author, or any opinions expressed on its pages.

Slip of the tongue â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or straight talk?

SHAHAR AZRAN/WIREIMAGE

For complaints, suggestions and
third-party communiques on
behalf of an embattled West
African monarchy, please e-mail
brayden.simms@metro.us.

Last night the four Republican
presidential hopefuls still left
standing met in Tampa, Fla.,
for the 18th debate of the campaign cycle, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sure it
was a doozy. Former front-runner Mitt Romney, buffeted by
attacks from the tricky Newt
Gingrich, must take control of
the narrative and go on the offensive. We predict a rumble.
However, the debate runs
too late for our analysis, which
will instead run tomorrow.
Today weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to address a
New Yorker article by reporter
Ryan Lizza that chronicles the
death of hope in President

07

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012

â&#x20AC;&#x153;If Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m fortunate
enough to become
president, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll care very
deeply about it getting
better in a big hurry.â&#x20AC;?
MITT ROMNEY ON THE ECONOMY YESTERDAY. SOME HAVE
POINTED OUT THAT ROMNEYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DICTION HERE IMPLIES THAT
HEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NOT PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN THE ECONOMY
IMPROVING IN THE MEANTIME, WHICH MAKES PERFECT
SENSE: ROMNEY IS RUNNING ON A PLATFORM THAT CLAIMS
PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS FAILED TO IMPROVE THE ECONOMY.

19,552
Number of signatures at
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We The Peopleâ&#x20AC;? White
House website imploring the president to investigate former Sen. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and current chief lobbyist for the Motion
Picture Association of
America â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Chris Dodd
for â&#x20AC;&#x153;publicly admit[ing]
to bribing politicians to

pass legislation
[SOPA/PIPA].â&#x20AC;? According
to the petition, Dodd
told politicians: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Don't
ask me to
write a
check for
you when
you think
your job is
at risk and
then don't pay any
attention to me when
my job is at stake.â&#x20AC;?

'2%!4 #$ 2!4%3
paula, you made
a fortune off of fat.
call us if you want to be
around to enjoy it.
$0 to join and rest of month FREE!*

OUR
/PEN 9 T
!CCOUN
4ODAY

9%!2 #$

!09

9%!2 #$

9%!2 #$

!09

new york sports clubs
MySportsClubs.com â&#x20AC;˘ 108 tri-state locations
*$0 joining fee requires a 1-year membership. Monthly dues are waived
from 1.1.12 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1.31.12. Processing fee is due upon enrollment. Sales tax
where applicable. Not transferable. No cash value. Cannot be combined
with any other offer. Offer expires 1.24.12.

#$S REQUIRE MINIMUM DEPOSIT OF TO OPEN AND EARN INTEREST %ARLY WITHDRAWAL PENALTIES MAY APPLY

!NNUAL
0ERCENTAGE 9IELDS !09S STATED ARE EFFECTIVE AS OF *ANUARY
AND MAY BE CHANGED BY THE "ANK AT ANY TIME
!CCOUNTS MUST BE OPENED IN PERSON AT AN !PPLE "ANK BRANCH

news

08

THE BIG ISSUE
@cassieatmetro

Black eyes
West African immigrant
Amadou Diallo was killed in
1999 in front of his Bronx
apartment after he was shot
19 times by officers who
said they thought he was
reaching for a gun. He was
unarmed. The four officers
were acquitted of seconddegree murder charges.

cassandra.garrison@metro.us

home in 2009. Walker, who
was unarmed, supposedly
had no idea the man was a
cop.
Michael Daragjati, a white
NYPD officer, pleaded guilty
to civil rights violations after
he bragged about arresting
a black man in Staten Island
in April of 2011.
Officer Emmanuel Tavarez
pleaded guilty in April 2011
to robbing drug dealers of
cash and drugs.

Pena

Bell

Police shot and killed 23year-old Sean Bell the night
before his wedding in 2006,
when officers fired 50 bullets at the car he was in with
friends. Three detectives
who said they thought he
had a gun were indicted but
acquitted in 2008. The city
paid a $7 million lawsuit to
his friends and family.
33-year-old Vionique Valnord of Brooklyn was killed
while hailing a taxi when
she was struck by an SUV
driven by a drunk, off-duty
NYPD officer in 2009.
Michael Mineo publicly accused three cops of assaulting and sodomizing him
with a baton in a Brooklyn
subway station in
October 2008.
The three officers were acquitted in
February,
2010.
Shem
Walker was
Mineo
shot and
killed during a
scuffle with an undercover NYPD officer who
was sitting on the stoop of
his mother’s Fort Greene

WITH METRO’S
CASSANDRA
GARRISON

NYPD officer Michael Pena
was charged with the rape
of a woman who said he attacked her when she asked
him for directions while he
was off-duty in Inwood in
August 2011.
Seventeen police officers
were indicted in September
of 2011 in an alleged ticketfixing scandal that got rid of
traffic tickets for friends and
family members with the
help of cops.
Five NYPD cops were busted
in October of 2011 for smuggling firearms and slot machines as part of a 12-person
theft ring. The operation
had been under federal surveillance the entire time.
An AP investigation in 2011
revealed the NYPD had
been spying on New York
Muslims by infiltrating
mosques and student
groups.
Commissioner
Ray Kelly
announced new
infrared technology that will help
police detect
whether someone
is carrying a gun
without frisking them in
January 2012. Critics argue
that the tactic is invasive
and unconstitutional.

After accusations of rape, spying and brutality, public faith wavers in
the NYPD Yes, the nation’s largest police force has prevented 14
terrorist attacks since 9/11 But the department has also been hit by
several scandals that risk harming New Yorkers’ confidence in police

CAN WE STILL
CALL THEM
NY’S FINEST?

L

ast year was a rocky
one for the NYPD.
The largest police
force in the U.S. at
34,500
officers
strong was consistently under scrutiny for highly publicized scandals and shocking
revelations. Rape accusations
against police, a ticket-fixing
scandal, reporters arrested
while covering Occupy Wall
Street — with each embarrassing headline, New York’s
Finest damaged its once
record-high level of trust
among the public.
In a post-9/11 world, New
Yorkers willingly put their
faith in the NYPD to protect
them from another attack by
any means necessary. Approval rating of the police
force among the public was a
soaring 76 percent in February 2002, according to a
Quinnipiac poll. The NYPD
has taken a swift and effective approach to terrorism,
and there has not been another attack on its watch in
10 years. In fact, the overall
approval of the NYPD remains exceptionally high,
wavering between 60 and 69
percent.
But it’s when voters are
polled on more specific issues, including headlinemaking scandals like the
shooting death of Sean Bell

Quoted

“There is no
independent
agency to perform
oversight; the NYPD
tells us everything
is OK, and we are
expected to believe
it — no matter how
many incidents
point to the
contrary.”
JUMAANE WILLIAMS
SOURCE: QUINNIPIAC

Poll

and force used against Occupy Wall Street protesters,
that a growing public mistrust begins to reveal itself.
For example, in October of
2011, at the height of OWS,
voters were split 46 to 45 percent in their approval of the
way police handled the Wall
Street protests.
“Officers risk their lives
every day and the NYPD has
been top-notch in protecting
this city from terror attacks,
both of which we all recognize and deeply appreciate,”
said City Councilman Jumaane Williams, who represents Flatbush. “Where trust
has taken a serious hit is in
people’s day-to-day lives.”

W

illiams had his
own
run-in
with police in
How do you feel about the
2011, when he
shooting death of Sean Bell?
was arrested
NO EXCUSE FOR HOW
at the West Indian Day Parade.
NYPD ACTED
Cops said Williams didn’t follow requests to stay behind
police tape, but Williams,
who is African-American,
said he was a target of racial
profiling, something that he
said happens far too often in
police work.
“We hear stories about a
bad apple here and there,
and the fact is we now have a
DON’T KNOW
bumper crop of bad apples,”
POLICE BEHAVIOR
IS UNDERSTANDABLE
Williams said.
One of the most shocking

57%

11%

32%

incidents to come out of 2011
was the trial of officers Kenneth Moreno and Frank Mata
who were charged with the
rape of a woman they were
enlisted to help. Though they
were only convicted of official misconduct, the case
struck a chord with New
Yorkers, especially among
victims of sexual assault,
who often hesitate to report
their rapes.
“Even though the officers
were acquitted, nothing
could undermine public trust
in the police — who are supposed to be guardians of people — more than charges
that they use their unique
powers to do good to perpetrate evil,” said John Jay professor and former NYPD officer and city prosecutor Eugene O’Donnell.
New Yorkers are indeed
fed up and disappointed with
the NYPD immediately after
an embarrassing public gaffe.
But the police force’s overall
approval rating never dips
too low.
Are New Yorkers willing
to forgive in exchange for
safety — and if so, how long
will that last?
WRITE TO METRO:
LETTERS@METRO.US

NYC’s #1 FREE DAILY
EMILY ANNE EPSTEIN/METRO

Nearly half of New Yorkers polled in October disapproved of
the way the NYPD handled the policing of Occupy Wall Street.

Stop and frisk: A violation
of constitutional rights?

GETTY IMAGES

Stop-and-frisk tactics, introduced under Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s administration and
stepped up by Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, let cops pat down
anyone they suspect of a
crime. Critics call it unconstitutional, while Bloomberg
and NYPD Commissioner Ray
Kelly credit the practice with
lower crime rates and more
arrests.
Attorney Kenneth Ramseur said stop-and-frisk is just
another way for police to
keep up with arrest statistics,
though they rarely lead to a
conviction.
“He’s not telling you the
cops aren’t showing up in
court and the cases are getting dismissed,” Ramseur
said of Kelly. “He’s being de-

ceitful to the public.”
Sunita Patel, an attorney
working on Floyd, et al. v.
City of New York, et al., a
class-action lawsuit on its
way to trial that challenges
stop-and-frisk tactics as unconstitutional acts of racial
profiling, said minorities are

most frequently targeted.
“Unfortunately the NYPD
has built a reputation of harassing black and brown residents rather than fighting
crime,” Patel said. “This
means that trust is eroded
and communities are less
safe.”
SOURCE: CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

By the numbers

600,601

.13%

Stop and frisks in 2010

Of stop and frisks resulted in
the discovery of a ﬁrearm

87%

7%

Of people stopped and
frisked were black or Latino

Of stop and frisks resulted in
an arrest

09

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012

New Yorkers protest
police brutality.

Some suggest
outside review
and retraining
Even after a scandal-ridden
year for the NYPD, Mayor
Michael Bloomberg made no
direct reference to the gaffes
during his 2012 State of the
City Address earlier this
month. Instead, he called the
NYPD the best police force in
the world.
“Commissioner [Ray] Kelly
has done an outstanding job
making sure that New York’s
Finest are also the most upstanding,” Bloomberg said.
In what may have been a
subtle nod to the rash of bad
press, the mayor announced
he would beef up attorney
staffing by adding four
lawyers to the Commission to
Combat Police Corruption,
which was established in 1995
to oversee anti-corruption programs within the NYPD. It is
separate from the police force,
but its strength is limited by
its lack of subpoena power.
Sunita Patel, an attorney
for the Center for Constitutional Rights, suggests New
York City adopt an independent monitoring bureau, like
those in New Orleans and
Cincinnati, to increase trans-

“After someone has
been a cop four or
ﬁve years, pull them
oﬀ the street ... and
retrain them. My
guess is you’ll get a
better cop back.”
ATTORNEY KEN RAMSEUR

parency and rebuild trust.
“The police can’t be trusted to police themselves right
now,” Patel said. “Instead, the
police hide from public
scrutiny.”
Kenneth Ramseur, an attorney whose clients include both
police officers and those who
sue the NPYD, said he believes
many of the police force’s publicized mistakes are the result
of poor training.
“After someone has been a
cop four or five years, pull
them off the street, give them
a sabbatical and retrain
them,” Ramseur said. The
NYPD did not respond to inquiries about whether officers
receive refresher training at
any point during their careers.

On the subject

A call for
limits for
city chief
of police
Ray Kelly is the only police
commissioner in city history to hold the position for
two non-consecutive terms.
He started his most recent
run in 2002 and has
remained at the post
throughout Mayor Michael
Bloomberg’s time in office.
Kelly was criticized last year
in the wake of the NYPD’s
handling of Occupy Wall
Street and attention
surrounding stop-and-frisk
policies.
Eugene O’Donnell, a former NYPD officer and prosecutor who now teaches at
John Jay College of Criminal

Kelly

Justice, suggests six-year
term limits for the police
commissioner, citing the
danger of a role that goes
relatively unchecked for an
unlimited period of time.
“The Police Commissioner has the power to
influence policing strategies,
relationships with the community and the overall effectiveness and tone of law enforcement which in a practical way exceeds the power of
the mayor,” O’Donnell said.
“Concentrating power in
the hands of any one person
for too long a period invites
abuse,” he added.

10

my

NYC’s #1 FREE DAILY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012

myentertainment

THE WORD

2 Health scares
Metro’s Dorothy Robinson shares her take on the world of gossip

The feed ...
Checking in with
some of Hollywood’s
biggest names to see
what they’ve been up
to — in their own
words, in 140 characters or fewer.
Today, Alyssa Milano is
mad at her phone,
Steve Martin is ready to
serve, Kathy Najimy is
feeling fatigued, and
Donald Glover is learning things from TV.
@Alyssa_Milano:
Dear Auto Correct,
Duck you. Sincerely,
Everyone
@SteveMartinToGo:
Waiting for call asking
me to do halftime
show at Superbowl
with solo banjo. How
will I control fans rushing stage? Details to
work out.
@kathynajimy: want a
great idea for a good
invention? swollen feet
you can screw off at the
end of the day and
store on the shelf.
@DonaldGlover:
watchin french
children’s show explain
how to make a homemade alarm for your
sack lunch. If it was in
black & white, it’d be a
masterpiece

Milano

@dorothyatmetro

dorothy.robinson@metro.us

of the stars

The Australians must be desperate.
They’ve flown Kevin Federline, 33, all the way to their
country to star in their weightloss reality show, “Excess Baggage” (because, apparently,
“Celebrity Fit Club” worked
out so well for him). But their
workouts were too much for
the former dancer/chronic egg
fertilizer, and, according to local reports, his heart went
“PopoZão” and he was rushed
to a hospital with chest pains. It
was so severe that according to
local reports, Federline suffered
a “mini heart-attack” (which
sounds like an oxymoron if
there ever was one).
Meanwhile, on the other
side of the world, Tracy Morgan
was also rushed to the hospital
in Park City, Utah, on Monday
after he collapsed at the Creative
Coalition
Spotlight
Awards. A source told the Hollywood Reporter that, “Morgan
seemed inebriated, yelling and
falling onto the ground.”
I know what you are thinking and no, it was not booze. It
was the altitude at the Sun-

Klum and
Seal: Yup,
it’s over
Heidi Klum and Seal have

confirmed that they are
separating after seven
years together, according
to People magazine.
“While we have enjoyed
seven very loving, loyal
and happy years of marriage, after much soulsearching we have decided to separate,” Klum says
in a statement. “We have
had the deepest respect
for one another throughout our relationship and
continue to love each other very much, but we have
grown apart. This is an
amicable process, and protecting the well-being of
our children remains our
top priority, especially
during this time of transition.” Seal and Klum are
parents to Leni, 7, Henry,
6, Johan, 5, and Lou, 2. No
zinger of a remark here —
just sadness.

Federline

dance Film Festival that felled
the “30 Rock” star. Per his rep:
“From a combination of exhaustion and altitude, Tracy is
seeking medical attention. He
is with his fiancee and grateful
to the Park City Medical Center
for their care. Any reports of
Tracy consuming alcohol are
100 percent false.”
This is one of those rare occasions that a PR statement is
true: The hospital reports that
Morgan did not have alcohol or
drugs in his system when he
was admitted.

Morgan and his
fiancee shortly before
his collapse.

Talking points
Ron Howard is a
happy grandpa
Bryce Dallas Howard gave birth
to a daughter, Beatrice, late last
week, the second child for Bryce
and husband Seth Gabel, according to People magazine. And it
was proud grandfather Ron
Howard who broke the news,
posting on Twitter, “Bryce & Baby
B are spectacular Daddy Seth &
brother Theo are beaming ear to

Klum and Seal

Ron and Bryce Dallas Howard

ear.” While the gender of the baby was kept a secret until the
birth, Bryce previously said that
her 4-year-old son, Theo, had
predicted it would be a girl.

Cowell is single
yet again
Simon Cowell says his engagement to Mezhgan Hussainy is off

— and the relationship is as well,
in a way. “It’s quite a complicated
relationship. We have had a
break from each other, and we
are still incredibly close,” Cowell
tells the Sunday Mirror. “I’m vulnerable. It’s not on, it’s not off,
it’s somewhere in the middle. I
don’t know if I will ever get married, but I am happy.” As for his
gushing about Hussainy being
“the one” during an interview
with Piers Morgan when the
couple was first engaged, Cowell
says, “I have been pretty good
about not talking about my private stuff, but I got caught up in
the moment.”

Reynolds and Lively
hit the Big Easy
After spending time together in
New York, Boston and
Vancouver, Blake Lively and
Ryan Reynolds have taken their
city-hopping romance south to
New Orleans, where they were
spotted all over town last weekend, according to People magazine. On Friday, the pair stopped
in at ice cream shop Creole
Creamery. “Ryan comes in here
sometimes when he’s in town,” a
source says. “They did leave the
store holding hands, though —
supersweet!”

my

NYC’s #1 FREE DAILY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012

11

myentertainment

3

1

2

4

More from
Sundance —
and one wax
Michael Jackson
1. Tonya Lee, Chris Rock and
filmmaker Spike Lee showed up
at the after-party for the
Sundance premiere of “Red
Hook Summer” on Sunday in
Park City, Utah.

Mullally, attended the
“Smashed” premiere during the
film festival.

Experience” at Madame
Tussauds on Sunday in Washington, D.C.

3. Three Michael Jackson wax
figures — from The Jackson
Five, the “Bad” era and the “This
Is It” era — were displayed during the launch of the traveling
exhibition “The Michael Jackson

4. Bar Refaeli and Cameron Diaz
were in the audience for the
Dior Haute-Couture 2012 show
as part of Paris Fashion Week on
Monday in Paris.
5. Common attended the
SAGIndie Actors Only brunch
during Sundance on Sunday in
Utah.

Music writer Stephen Davis finds there is ‘More Room in a Broken Heart’
with his new Carly Simon biography The woman who pioneered
confessional songwriting seems to think the book is too revealing

CLOUDS
IN HER COPY

When Stephen Davis gave Carly Simon a first look at his new
book, “More Room in a Broken
Heart: The True Adventures of
Carly Simon,” he enclosed a
note.
“I sent her the uncorrected
proofs, and I said, ‘Carly, if you
like this book, I haven’t done
my job,’” Davis reveals.
The veteran music writer
was right.
“I’ve talked to members of
her family, and they say that

“More Room in a Broken Heart: The True Adventures of
Carly Simon” is out now.
JOE MCNALLY/GETTY IMAGES

own friendship. But social taboos
never break the odd couple’s
bond and, ultimately, they draw
the two closer. We asked author,
critic and professor Edmund
White for his thoughts on love
and the pursuits of happiness.

Interview

Friend is a
four-letter
word
When it comes to affairs of the
heart, the titular characters of the
new novel “Jack Holmes and His
Friend” are inept, but charmingly
so. Spanning over two decades
before and during gay liberation
in New York City, the book chronicles the unrequited love that reluctantly gay Jack feels for his homophobic best friend Will. Con-

tempt stokes the flames of desire
in both men’s volatile romantic
relationships and even in their

Jack’s most valued friendship is
with Will, who he never crosses
the line with. Do you think one
can be friends with another if
sex is an ulterior motive?
The person in love spends all of
his time wooing and studying
and adjusting to the whims of the
other. Part of friendship is that
total concentration on another
person. Love is a good motivator.
Have you had any friendships
like Jack and Will’s?

I’ve had close friendships with
gay men who didn’t reciprocate
my sexual feelings. So I know
what it’s like. A friend of mine
said, “I think that Jack seems so
childish. Only a teenager would
feel that way.” But in my case, I
really was hopelessly in love with
a friend of mine for years.

A historical
dimension
“In the beginning, in 1962, Will
thinks he’s very noble to have a
gay friend because he’s terrified that people might think
he’s gay,” says White about exploring shifts in perceptions to-

she is upset. And it’s not a good
idea to get Carly Simon upset at
you,” says Davis. “On the other
hand, it would have been an
even worse idea to write a boring book about Carly Simon.”
“More Room” is a far from
boring account of the life of the
iconic singer and her fivedecade career, which is rife
with huge hurdles of neuroses
and great leaps in songwriting.
It features bizarre cameos by
the most important personali-

ties of her time. A sampling
from her youth: Pete Seeger
was her kindergarten music
teacher; Jackie Robinson played
second base in family softball
games; George Gershwin came
over to hear how “Summertime” would sound with her
mom singing. Later in the
book, Marvin Gaye comes on to
her, Jeremy Irons has a controversial cameo (see the sidebar
for more on that) and she gets
Mick Jagger to sing on her

While we get to know both
friends intimately, the title and
chronology of the book put Jack
in the forefront. Yet Will is the
one written in the ﬁrst-person.
I wanted Jack to remain mysterious; I wanted a change of pace
when I got to Will. I thought it
would be a challenge to write in

the first-person about a straight
man. It’s what novelists like to do;
to imagine what a different existence is like.
Do you think, in 2012, either
Jack or Will would support gay
marriage?
Jack is pretty conservative. The
two boys share that — they’re
both stuffy people. It was another
way I could distinguish between
myself and Jack. I was active in
gay liberation; I was at Stonewall
and one of the founders of the
Gay Men’s Health Crisis. That’s
the opposite of Jack, who’s not
sure he wants to be identified as
gay. I think they probably wouldn’t like gay marriage; marriage
would seem too gay to [Jack].

ward the gay community in the
book. “But by the ’70s, Will
sees it’s chic to be gay. Gay people have been on a rapid cycle,
oppressed in the ’50s, exalted
in the ’60s, even glorified in the
’70s and then almost wiped out
in the ’80s. That was something
I wanted to capture.”